1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a computer-implemented method for checking a communication input of a programmable logic controller of an automation component of a plant, a checking device for checking the communication input of the programmable logic controller of the automation component of the plant, an automation network for controlling and checking the communication of an input interface of the programmable logic controller of the automation component of the plant, a configuration server for configuring, controlling and monitoring the checking device, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, only whole production cells, i.e., sub-networks of an automation network of a factory automation system, have been protectable by external firewalls against “unauthorized” communication inputs, i.e., computer viruses, data espionage attempts, data manipulation attempts or mis-addressings, from a network upstream of the sub-network. In accordance with the current prior art, there is as yet no decentralized filtering functionality located directly at the input interface of each programmable logic controller of an automation component to provide protection against “unauthorized” communication inputs for attempted data manipulation and/or data espionage. Consequently, there still exists a certain security vulnerability in terms of local protection of an individual programmable logic controller of an automation component within an automation network. Consequently, there is also still no effective protection against negative interaction of individual inter-communicating automation components within a production cell of an automation system.